Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin says that he has never lacked competences in his quality of chief of state and the post of chairman of the Moldovan Party of Communists (PCRM) helps him fulfil his tasks through the plenum and majority faction of this party. This way, Voronin answered at a TV programme on March 12 how grounded are the accusations of exaggerated concentration of the power in state and why he did not step down from the post of PCRM leader. He noted that the problems of the country are solved more operatively, better and positively thanks to the parliamentary majority and cooperation between presidency, parliament and executive. As regards the April 4 voting, when he was elected president, including with the votes of lawmakers of some opposition parties, he said that this is not a betrayal, but a „maturity” and „a homework done by political opponents.” „There are parties which will never obtain the majority in the parliament and they exceed the electoral threshold with difficulty, but each of them has its platform and ambitions. They can obtain the fulfilment of some objectives by making a coalition with other parties in order to create a majority or to negotiate with the ruling party,” the PCRM leader explained. Voronin underlined that there were no backstage games for his election as chief of state. „I categorically deny any betrayal, there are only interests that unite us,” Voronin said, adding that the „so-called 10 conditions” have already been fulfilled. Asked if his successor to the chief of state post is known, Voronin said no, but noted that he will respect the Constitution and will not bid for a new mandate. Speaking about Moldova’s European integration objective, Voronin said that Moldova will not join the European Union until 2009, but promised to transmit a strong and prosperous state with normal living standards for population to his successor. Vladimir Voronin was elected as chief of state on April 4, 2001 by 71 lawmakers representing PCRM that won the February 25, 2001 elections. He was re-elected on April 4, 2005 with the votes of Communist, Christian Democratic, Democratic and Social Liberal lawmakers.